Bitter Honey (2014 film)

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Bitter Honey
Bitter Honey 2014 poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Robert Lemelson
Produced byRobert Lemelson
Alessandra Pasquino
CinematographyWing Ko
Edited byChisako Yokoyama
Music byMalcolm Cross
Production
company
Elemental Productions
Release date
  • October 3, 2014 (2014-10-03)(United States)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesIndonesian
Balinese
English

Bitter Honey is a 2014 documentary film directed by anthropologist and filmmaker Robert Lemelson that chronicles the lives of three polygamous families living in Bali, Indonesia. The film follows the wives from their introduction to the polygamous lifestyle to the emotional hardships and jealousies to their struggle for empowerment and equal rights.

Contents

Production

Bitter Honey was directed by Robert Lemelson, an anthropologist and filmmaker with a doctorate from UCLA. [1] Lemelson had originally been researching the 1998 mass rapes perpetrated during the economic crisis and the fall of the Suharto regime. Realizing that these acts were only one piece of the larger puzzle of gender inequality in Indonesia, Lemelson shifted his focus to domestic violence and particularly how it coincided with polygamous kinship forms. [2] [3] The film’s title refers to a regional play on words, as the local term for co-wife (madu) also translates to “honey.” [4]

The film was shot over a period of seven years. [5] Lemelson used this longitudinal approach to gain the trust of his subjects, saying, “We returned over and over so that people could see we weren’t just there to get data and never return.” [3]

The film is presented in thematic chapters, with each new section introduced by a traditional Wayang Kulit shadow-puppet performance about the issues surrounding polygamous unions. The filmmakers commissioned this performance for use in the film. [6] In earlier cuts of “Bitter Honey”, the film had focused on the husbands in these polygamous arrangements, but Lemelson quickly realized that the more compelling story arose from examining how these marriages are experienced by the co-wives. [3]

Synopsis

The film follows the lives of three polygamous families living in Bali, Indonesia, where polygynous unions make up about 10% of households. [7]

The first is the family of Sadra, a fair trade craftsman with two wives and eight children living in separate compounds. Sadra’s main narrative thread concerns generational cycles of violence and his abusive relationship with his first wife and mother, and its effect on his children. At one point in the narrative, Sadra’s first wife requests the help of his boss and a local human rights lawyer to stage an intervention confronting Sadra about his abusive behavior. [3]

The second family is that of local thug and cockfight organizer, Darma. His five wives each describe how they were “tricked or badgered” into accepting a polygamous marriage and their efforts to come to terms with it. [8] Darma frequently seeks sexual relationships outside of his marital bonds, including with sex workers—putting himself and his wives at risk of STD infection. [9]

The third family profiled is that of Sang Putu Tuaji, a powerful elderly man who was the leader of a local anti-communist militia. He had ten wives, five still living at the time of the film. [6]

Release

The film opened in limited theatrical release in the United States on October 3, 2014. [10]

Critical response

Review were generally positive. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 67% approval rating based on 9 reviews, and an average rating of 5.8 out of 10. [11] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 6 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." [12]

Reviewers praising the film for its objective illumination of cultural issues in relation to gender status in Indonesia. [13] Many reviewers praised the film for its potential as an educational tool within Bali as well as in Western classrooms. [6] [7] [8] Critics of the film believed it to be too narrow in its focus. Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote, “Intriguing enough in what it shows, Bitter Honey nonetheless frustrates for what it doesn’t.” [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polygyny</span> Mating system in which the male partner may have multiple partners

Polygyny is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women.

Polygamy is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry. In sociobiology and zoology, researchers use polygamy in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mormonism and polygamy</span> History of polygamy among Mormon denominations

Polygamy was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890 by between 20 and 30 percent of Latter-day Saint families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints</span> Latter-Day Saints denomination

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a religious sect of the fundamentalist Mormon denominations whose members practice polygamy. It is estimated that 6,000 to 10,000 members reside within the congregate sister cities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona (raided); Eldorado, Texas (raided); Westcliffe, Colorado; Mancos, Colorado; Creston and Bountiful, British Columbia (sold); and Pringle, South Dakota (sold).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Jeffs</span> American criminal and religious leader (born 1955)

Warren Steed Jeffs is an American religious leader who has been convicted of several sex crimes and two assisted sex crimes involving children. He is the prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous movement which has no affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2011, he was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault, for which he is serving a life sentence.

Polygamy is the practice of having more than one spouse at the same time. Specifically, polygyny is the practice of one man taking more than one wife while polyandry is the practice of one woman taking more than one husband. Polygamy is a common marriage pattern in some parts of the world. In North America, polygamy has not been a culturally normative or legally recognized institution since the continent's colonization by Europeans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Current state of polygamy in the Latter Day Saint movement</span>

Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, privately taught and practiced polygamy. After Smith's death in 1844, the church he established splintered into several competing groups. Disagreement over Smith's doctrine of "plural marriage" has been among the primary reasons for multiple church schisms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polygyny in India</span>

Polygamy, including polygyny, is outlawed in India. While it was not prohibited in Ancient India and was common among aristocrats and emperors, it is believed that it was not a major cultural practice. The lack of prohibition was in part due to the separation between land laws and religion, and partially since all of the major religions of India portrayed polygamy in a neutral light. According to some government data polygamy is decreasing day by day in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polygamy in Nigeria</span>

Under civil law, Nigeria does not recognize polygamous unions. However, 12 out of the 36 Nigerian states recognize polygamous marriages as being equivalent to monogamous marriages. All twelve states are governed by Sharia law. The states, which are all northern, include the states of Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara which allows for a man to take more than one wife.

Polygamy is legal in Uganda, where a man is allowed to marry multiple wives at a time. Due to this, most families tend to contain an abundance of children.

The Republic of Afghanistan, which is an Islamic Republic under Sharia Law, allows for polygyny. Afghan men may take up to four wives, as Islam allows for such. A man must treat all of his wives equally; however, it has been reported that these regulations are rarely followed. While the Qur'an states that a man is allowed a maximum of four wives, there is an unspecified number of women allowed to be his 'concubines'. These women are considered unprotected and need a man as a guardian.

Polygamy is legal in Indonesia, the largest Muslim population in the world. Polygamy in Indonesia is not just practiced by Muslims, but also customarily done by non-Muslim minorities, such as the Balinese and the Papuans.

The legal status of polygamy varies widely around the world. Polygyny is legal in 58 out of nearly 200 sovereign states, the vast majority of them being Muslim-majority countries. Some countries that permit polygamy have restrictions, such as requiring the first wife to give her consent.

Polygamy is not legally recognised in Australia. Legally recognised polygamous marriages may not be performed in Australia, and a person who marries another person, knowing that the previous marriage is still subsisting, commits an offence of bigamy under section 94 of the Marriage Act 1961, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment. However, the offence of bigamy only applies to attempts to contract a legally recognised marriage; it does not apply to polygamous marriages where there is no attempt to gain recognition for the marriage under Australian law. Whether or not either or both partners were aware of the previous subsisting marriage, the second marriage is void. Foreign polygamous marriages are not recognized in Australia. However, a foreign marriage that is not polygamous but could potentially become polygamous at a later date under the law of the country where the marriage took place is recognized in Australia while any subsequent polygamous marriage is not. While under Australian law a person can be in at most one legally valid marriage at a time, Australian law does recognise that a person can be in multiple de facto relationships concurrently, and as such entitled to the legal rights extended to members of de facto relationships.

<i>Sister Wives</i> American reality television series (2010–present)

Sister Wives is an American reality television series broadcast on TLC that premiered on September 26, 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family, which includes Kody Brown, his wife Robyn, ex-wives, and their 18 children. The family began the series living in Lehi, Utah, moved to Las Vegas in 2011, and to Flagstaff, Arizona, in mid-2018.

<i>Brown v. Buhman</i>

Brown v. Buhman, No. 14-4117, is a legal case in the United States federal courts challenging the State of Utah's criminal polygamy law. The action was filed in 2011 by polygamous patriarch Kody Brown along with his wives Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Christine Brown, and Robyn Sullivan. The Brown family belongs to the Apostolic United Brethren faith. They are best known for the reality television series featuring them, Sister Wives.

Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia is a six-part ethnographic documentary film series on the lives of the mentally ill living on the islands of Bali and Java in Indonesia. Each film documents the personal journey of a patient's diagnosis, care and treatment and the impact of culture, family, and community on the course of their illness. The films were directed and produced by ethnographic filmmaker and psychological anthropologist Robert Lemelson.

40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy is a documentary film by anthropologist Robert Lemelson about the personal effects of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966. The film was shot on the islands of Bali and Java from 2002–2006. The score is a collaboration between the British composer Malcolm Cross and the Balinese musician Nyoman Wenten, and combines Western tonalities and chordal structures with Balinese and Javanese scalar progressions and melodies. The film was released in the United States in 2009, and has had limited screenings throughout Indonesia.

Robert Bush Lemelson is an American cultural anthropologist and film producer. He received his M.A. from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Lemelson's area of specialty is transcultural psychiatry; Southeast Asian Studies, particularly Indonesia; and psychological and medical anthropology. He is a research anthropologist in the Semel Institute of Neuroscience UCLA, and an adjunct professor of Anthropology at UCLA. His scholarly work has appeared in journals and books. Lemelson founded Elemental Productions in 2008, a documentary production company, and has directed and produced numerous ethnographic films.

The Darger family is an independent fundamentalist Mormon polygamous family living in Utah, United States. They went public after years of being secretive about their polygamous lifestyle to promote the decriminalization of polygamy in the United States as well as to help reshape the perception of polygamy following the prosecution of Warren Jeffs. In 2013, the Darger family met with Utah legislators in an effort to persuade them to change the laws against polygamy in the state.

References

  1. ↑ "Robert Lemelson". IMDb .
  2. ↑ Olds, Dorri (October 2, 2014). "'Bitter Honey' shows ugly side of Bali, where polygamy and domestic abuse reign". The Blot . Archived from the original on Jan 14, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Barrosse, Emilia (September 25, 2014). "Anthropologist's film exposes plight of polygamy in Indonesia". UCLA Newsroom. Archived from the original on Sep 27, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  4. ↑ Webster, Andy (October 30, 2014). "The Pain of Polygamy". The New York Times . Archived from the original on Apr 16, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  5. ↑ Maleszka, Jamie (October 1, 2014). "Bitter Honey: A Documentary on Polygamy, Love and Violence". Leveled Magazine. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Harvey, Dennis (October 4, 2014). "Film Review: 'Bitter Honey'". Variety . Archived from the original on Aug 22, 2015. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Linden, Sheri (October 2, 2014). "'Bitter Honey' doesn't sugarcoat polygamy". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on Oct 3, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  8. 1 2 DeFore, John (September 15, 2014). "'Bitter Honey': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  9. ↑ Merry, Stephanie (November 6, 2014). "'Bitter Honey' movie review". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on Nov 11, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Bitter Honey Theatrical Release Schedule | Bitter Honey".
  11. ↑ "Bitter Honey (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Bitter Honey". Metacritic .
  13. ↑ Keough, Peter (October 23, 2014). "'Bitter Honey' leaves an unsettling taste". The Boston Globe . Retrieved January 14, 2015.
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